Royal Houses of Quur

"'The Royal Houses may not rule Quur, but they unarguably control it.'"As the rulers of the economic sectors of the Quur Empire, these twelve families have immense power. They are banned from ruling politically but exercise control through licensing, trade regulation, and other economic sanctions. Each family has corresponding heraldry and gems, causing the alternative name for them to be the Court of Gems. "“In typical fashion, the royal houses of Quur turned what was meant to be a curse into a mark of prestige, to the point that when the original eight houses expanded into twelve, the extra royal houses invented false god-touched colorations to mark their status. Of course, very few in the modern day could claim to know why the houses were cursed in the first place.”"

General Description
The Royal Houses are lead by a "High Lord", an inherited title given to men who run the houses. (There is not a record currently of a woman being High Lord, and given the views of the Capital City it is likely not done with much approval.) The next in line to the title of High Lord (usually the eldest son) is called "Lord Heir". Both positions are treated as royalty and hold much power over the rest of the family. "'No one questioned too closely: truth in the Upper Circle is whatever a High Lord says it is.'"

Evidence of Legitimacy
Royals and royal families also have distinctive features that they use to claim their heritage. Overall they are almost always described as beautiful or magicked to be so. These features though often involve specific coloring of eyes. As these can be common colors or faked by magic (which 4 non original houses continue to do), there is also a test that can be done to see if the person possesses royal blood. Its requires the consent and witness of both a Voice of the Council and the High Lord of the house. Note the the test does not undo Ogenra status, to refute that documents of marriage need to be produced as well."'There is a simple magical test that determines if you have the blood of House D'Mon in your veins. We are one of the god-touched Houses, after all, one of the genuine, original eight Royal Houses. While you slept, a Voice of the Council was here-and my father, the High Lord, stood as witness. The results of that test are irrefutable and legally binding.'"

Economic Control
"It would be a mistake,' Therin said as he gazed out over the Blue Palace, 'to think of House D'Mon as a family. We are not. Never mind that the men and women at the top are related through blood or marriage. This is a company, a corporation of skills and talents, with the singular function of providing services for as cheaply as possible, while being paid as much as possible. It is a business. Every Royal House is, and anything else is just so many god-king tales for the common folk."Royal House's primary responsibility is to run and regulate a sector of the economy. The House usually chooses to require a license of those who practice the business, or collects fees for its use. For example, in order to use Gate to teleport a person (cough should cough) use a licensed Gatekeeper, and those licenses and dues are paid to the Royal House D'Aramarin. Another example if a person wishes to be healed they must visit a Blue House, which sends money to the D'Mon House who controls that sector. As certain services are used more than others the houses have different levels of power and affluence which contributes or can decrease their rank.

Rank
"We are fourth ranked of the twelve Royal Families. The [sic] means there are three Houses above us we would love to destroy, and eight Houses below who feel the same way about us. It would not be inaccurate to say the Royal Houses live in a constant state of undeclared war."The power, success, and popularity of each house is measured by their rank. This is why the public image is critical to each Royal House as a sign of weakness or failure and signify a drop in rank. Reversely, a series of successful actions can cause a rise, as evidenced by the rise of House D'Mon by two ranks under the direction of Lady Miya. This competition causes Royals to continuously host events, embrace new technology and fashions, gain all manner of skills (including drinking ) and keep up a high level of style in their homes, usually referred to as palaces. Rank is critical to each house as it determines how many votes they will receive at the choosing possible candidates for the Voices on the Council. As the Royals are banned from ruling politically this is as close as they can come to having a voice in the government. "Ranking is everything, you silly child....Ranking is the difference between living in a palace like this, or dying at the end of an assassin's dart."

History of the Royal Houses
Originally there were eight royal houses, each tied to one of the Eight Immortals. At the beginning the Royal Houses were not banned from ruling politically. Any restrictions or obligations they had are unknown. What is known is they became frustrated with Emperor Simillion, who unbeknownst to them was in the middle of goal for the Eight Immortals (it is unclear at the moment what that was, but Simillion was long time favorite chosen one of the Eight ), when the Houses killed him. (This is possibly untrue or speculation, see footnote. ) Infuriated the Eight are said to have cursed them. Thurvishar writes it best:"'Furious at losing their chosen one, the Eight Immortals slapped the families with a curse: from that day forward, no legal member of any of the families could rule. They would make no laws, collect no tithes or tribute, hold no land they had not bought and paid for. Any family who defied these laws would be destroyed, utterly. Each house was marked by the color of their eyes, so their identities would always be known, down through their descendants.'"Though they were cursed in this way they were given the opportunity to replace Emperor Simillion with one of their own."'The Eight Immortals told the Houses that they could chose Simillion’s replacement from among their number. That person would be Emperor, and continue Simillion’s work. When that Emperor died, the families would be allowed to again choose another replacement, as it would never be an inherited position. Every family would be royal and no family would be royal.' "This sparked the first bloody battle for the crown and scepter as it was the only way Royal Houses could ever gain political power. The tradition has grown and continued ever since. When the Emperor dies, and the crown and scepter appear in the Arena, anyone (read, any male... well up until a certain Empress, though that was unique) can enter the contest to claim them. After Emperor Nerikan D’Talus was crowned and left to fight the invading God King Ynis, the Royal Houses found other ways to rule. "'So what of the Royal Houses then? What does one do with a group of magically adept, highly-educated, extremely rich elite who suddenly had a lot of time on their hands? They couldn’t rule, but they could pay for lands and services. They could trade.'"The Royal Houses began two endeavors. First, with Emperor Nerikan gone, they searched to somehow continue to accept the tribute from various conquered domains. "'In the end, they found a loophole in the wording of ‘legal members’ of the family. If legal family members were forbidden, then unacknowledged bastards of the house were surely more acceptable. Each house gathered their illegitimate children together (apparently the Royal Houses have always been libidinous) and told these Ogenra that they, with their own ‘voice’ and not that of any house, could chose among their number who they wished to form a ruling council. That council, again, not chosen by any of the Royal Houses, would manage the Empire during the Emperor’s absence.'"They did this by having their illegitimate children, who were not formally or legally part of the house, mind the Empire and Capital while the Emperor was away. No one contested this and it developed into the Council of Voices. This still avoids the curse as the Houses did not actually choose the Voices, but voted in possible options.

The Houses also began to develop their dominance over economic sectors. Mostly these sectors were service sectors, with the Houses managing operations, skills, or magical actions. This is when four more houses joined the original twelve. "'The Royal Houses became merchants, bartering not anything so prosaic as spices or lumber (at least not in the beginning) but their magical skill.'"No Emperor has successfully attempted to rein in the Houses or change their abuse of the loopholes they found. Therefore the Royal Houses continue dominance over economics of Quur, and considerable second hand political power.

Ogenra
The use of illegitimate children as pawns is critical to the manipulations of the Empire by the Royal Houses. For more information see Ogenra.

= The Twelve Royal Houses = Below are the twelve Royal Houses, with their corresponding heraldry. For more history and lists of important members please visit each house's page.

D'Aramarin
The D'Aramarin House controls the Gatekeepers, who are able to open and close portals. This is a critical service to the Empire of Quur as it allows them to access their vast Empire for trade and more importantly for troop transport. For more information on Gates, see Gate Systems. As this is a critical service to the Empire they hold at the start of The Ruin of Kings and throughout, hold first rank.

For more information and members see: House D'Aramarin

D'Kard
Not much is known about the D'Kard house. It controls general Crafting, usually of the construction type. They would control and service builders and carpenters. Given that its eye color is so close D'Aramarin and is artificial it is likely not original.

For more information and members see: House D'Kard.

D'Lorus
The D'Lorus House is regarded lately with superstition due to it being the House of Gadrith the Twisted. Its colors of black and errie eyes do not help that image. They control education and book & map creation. This is especially powerful as it allows them to control the Academy, and censure materials.

For more information and members see: House D'Lorus

D'Mon
Dominating the healing services of the economy, the D'Mon house has a steady and consistent income of wealth and power. Their heritage has been rather dubious with vane and slave blood mixed into the line, but their maintain a reputation for ruthlessness. In addition to their economic monopoly they also secretly head the Shadowdancer thieves guild.

For more information and members see: House D'Mon

D'Talus
This family controls the working of metal and as such is very closely aligned to the military. This can easily be evidenced by several of its distant relatives, and those living in its district (Ruby District) being high ranking military officers. As Quur relies so heavily on its military the working of metal and acquisition of that metal is vital to the Empire.

For more information and members see: House D'Talus

D'Erinwa
This family has a considerable reputation as they monopolize the slavery and mercenaries. As slavery is such a large part of daily life, especially in the Capital they maintain a considerable status and wealth. Beyond that status though, not much is known about their members.

For more information and members see: House D'Erinwa

D'Evelin
Also known as the Junk Boys this house controls waste removal and control. They exercise control over the Capital City's waste removal (but not Gallthis), and have a lower reputation, likely due to several of their practices. They also, importantly, monopolize brewing.

For more information and members see: House D'Evelin

D'Jorax
The D'Jorax family oversees the revelers and entertainers section of the economy. They are known to license and educate entertainers, including courtesans and velvets. The family maintains a decent reputation but is not seen as one of the most powerful.

For more information and members see: House D'Jorax

D'Kaje
The D'Kaje house oversees the lamplighters, chandler, and cuisine sectors of the economy. Not much is known about their house as they have yet to be featured heavily in the series.

For more information and members see: House D'Kaje

D'Laakar
This family oversees the Ice Men, and all business regard refrigeration and air cooling. As the Capital City does have a very hot dry season this is an important aspect of the economy. Beyond that not much is known about this family as it has yet to feature prominently in the series.

Please note there is a debate as to the heraldic symbol of this house. In the original The Ruin of Kings appendix says that the symbol is two fish, whereas the actual drawn symbol in the current books and on Tor's website is a singular fish.

For more information and members see: House D'Laakar

D'Moló
This house controls and licenses animal husbandry and the working of cloth, natural fiber, and leather. Not much is known about this House as it is not featured prominently in the series so far.

For more information and members see: House D'Moló

D'Nofra
This house oversees crop manufacturing including herbs, spices, and teas. Not much is known about this family as they have yet to be featured prominently in the series.

For more information and members see: House D'Nofra

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